I was not sure about spending our last five days in Berlin, as it is certainly a city that polarises those who come to visit. It is not a pretty city, which is not surprising given the bombings in the 1940’s and it is edgy with a kind of cool vibe that is just below the surface. Yes I am firmly in the yes Berlin is a visit you should spend time in.

Our hotel is cool, it reminds me of one of those chrome based places that you see Kevin talking up on the original Grand Designs. There is some sort of movement in this city for doorless bathrooms, or in fact having the bath in with the beds….hmm wasn’t sure about what I thought about this until I confirmed that my expectation would be that ah yeah toilet door yup I want one of those, or a frosted glass pane..

Great hotel that is clean and close to the S and U Bahn central enough to supermarkets and restaurants we would definitely stay here again. Sana Hotel Berlin.

I would say we have been lucky with where we have stayed, however a lot of thought has gone into the locations and they have (with the exception of Dubrovnik) been close to the all important trains that have whisked us around Europe.

The end of our trip of course is tinged with sadness and we are ready to head home to be with the family. When you are away on the other side of the world home feels a long way away.

The morning of our first full day in Berlin we took a walking tour of this great city with The Original Berlin Walking Tours. There are a heap of different companies but we were so impressed with this mob they took some more money off us later in the week. Ryan an expat Scotsman was a fantastic host of this city.

One of the resounding messages you get as you walk around Berlin is that this is a city that recognises that decisions were made here that impacted the world, in an a way that has left generations of people for ever damaged and that this should be acknowledged. Before I came here I couldn’t imagine how much of an impact this city would have on me, but it was considerable. Whilst there are the usual museums (see below which yeah I love) there were regular reminders that yep you are in Berlin.

The whole burning of books I still something I really struggle with. So being at the spot where books were burned was excruciating for me. I am a long-standing lover of books who was a kid thats light burned late into the night – this continued well into adulthood, the idea of censorship makes me feel sick and sad.

The Germans made such a statement with this monument with the Bebelplatz where books were burned on the 10th of May in 1933. One of the sad things for me was this was initiated by students. “Where books are burned, human beings are destined to be burned too” said a German-Jewish poet by the name of Heinrich Heine in the 1800’s. Look to the ground through the Perspex and you will see rows of bookshelves – it makes you want to cry (well me anyway!)

From here to the German Cathedral and then onto Checkpoint Charlie.

Wow .. wow wow and then onto the Topography of Terror, throughout the tour I kept thinking how can this happen. How could people let this happen? Then sadly all I had to do was think about the politics of the world…

Then onto the location of the bunker where Hitler was when it the bombers came. The cool thing about this was that it is now a car park, yes a car park. So whilst there is a sign that’s it, nothing else. Ryan explained that there was considerable discussion about this and no one wanted this to become a place that future Nazi sympathisers would come to pay homage.

And then onto the extraordinary Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe, this place is also known as the Holocaust Memorial. There are two thousand, seven hundred and eleven gray concrete slabs – each of different sizes. It is moving and understated, there is nothing obvious about it, but as I walked through it it moved me, a place of self reflection and a must see.

A big fabulous day and an amazing week to come.